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LA GINA, Dominican Republic — Wrigleyville it was not. A cluster of single-level houses with fading paint rested just off the two-lane highway. Metal bars similar to a prison's hugged one with cream-colored exterior and white trim, while the windows were boarded up with plywood on another. A dust-laden flatbed truck sat idly nearby. But this being the Dominican, baseball was just a short walk away: a Cubs sign tucked into a patch of shrubs and trees. A gravel road lined by tall trees opened up to the team's glistening training complex spread across 50 acres, barely a year and a half old. It boasts three lush fields, batting cages, locker rooms, dormitories, a weight...

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LA GINA, Dominican Republic — Wrigleyville it was not.
A cluster of single-level houses with fading paint rested just off the two-lane highway. Metal bars similar to a prison's hugged one with cream-colored exterior and white trim, while the windows were...

The most anonymous job in baseball once belonged to middle relievers, the offensive linemen of the national pastime.
They usually found themselves in the media spotlight only after blowing saves, and only a select few were ever considered for the...

In Year 122 of a longstanding rivalry, it has finally come to this:
The Cubs want to be the Cardinals on the field, and the Cardinals want to be the Cubs off the field.
So far, only one is succeeding.
The Cardinals recently built their own Wrigleyville...

We can fix him! Most teams are convinced they can remedy whatever it was that went wrong with some fallen star. They can tweak his mechanics, provide needed insight he wasn’t getting elsewhere, give him that fresh start
Sometimes it actually works and...

There are lot of things about the Cubs’ plan that I get. What Theo Epstein is doing with prospects is smart. They need new grandstands and better player amenities. I get all that. What I don't get is the Ricketts' insistence on all the outfield signage,...

There are times when I find some of your observations and statements to be befuddling unless you are trying to protect players so they can be traded.You recently said Jared Mitchell needs a little more seasoning. He's a great athlete, but if he gets...

Officially, the Cubs designated Carlos Marmol for assignment. That’s baseball’s scenic route that eventually will land the shredded Marmol on the street.
The move appeared inevitable and is better for everyone, especially Cubs manager Dale Sveum....

Taking a quick break from the Stanley Cup Final to vent about the Cubs and White Sox:
The Sox are a joke, but rookie General Manager Rick Hahn is doing nothing to stop the losing.
In fact, he’s doing nothing, period.
I think he got the idea from Theo...

Cubs manager Dale Sveum finally made the move he never should’ve had to make: yanking Carlos Marmol as closer.
Sveum never should’ve had to make the move because team president Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer should’ve traded Marmol. In...

I have been a Cubs fan since 1948, so I have seen some poor baseball. However, it is time to release Marmol for the Cubs' good and also for his own good. Bill A., Newburgh, Ind. I don’t really see that happening, at least not until they exhaust all...

Me, I’d have traded Matt Garza after the first inning in Pittsburgh when he survived a one-out walk and got a magnificent catch from Julio Borbon.
Or I might’ve cut the deal to send Garza to (your rotation here) after the second inning Tuesday when he...

Baseball has stats for everything. Has anybody figured out the Cubs' team ERA in the eighth inning? It's gotta be in the teens. Ken, Portland, Ore. Not quite. The Cubs had a 5.42 ERA in eighth innings as of July 10, with an .818 OPS. Not good. But...

When does Tom Ricketts say no?
When does the Cubs head honcho stop eating millions of dollars in contracts just so Theo Epstein can get rid of Jim Hendry’s players?
Carlos Zambrano went to Florida. Marlon Byrd went to Boston. Those deals alone put...

Cubs manager Dale Sveum made it official Friday morning: Carlos Marmol is no longer the closer out of the bullpen.
The two met in Sveum’s office before Friday’s game against the Dodgers at Wrigley Field and Marmol was “fine with it, he understood,”...

A pitching staff that included Ryan Dempster, Paul Maholm, Matt Garza, Jeff Samardzija and Carlos Marmol went belly up in 2012, despite prolonged stretches of dominance from those four starters and the closer. The Cubs finished 24th among all major...

Wait, aren’t Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol supposed to be the proven guys in the Cubs bullpen? The Cubs seem as capable of running themselves out of games as pitching themselves out of them. I thought this was a new season. It might’ve only been one...

It's all about Luke Gregerson. Says a lot, doesn't it? Over the last two seasons, the best thing about the Padres has been their bullpen. It carried Bud Black's team to the threshold of the playoffs in 2010 and was the backbone of a bad team last year as...

Mike Quade must hate this. The guy from a Chicago suburb who worked his way up the Cubs’ chain finally gets a shot at his dream job, and his best starter is an idiot.
A modified version of The Full Zambrano was on display in the retch-inducing 7-3 loss...

Carlos Zambrano apologized for telling the truth. Carlos Marmol said everything's fine.
Yes. Well. Except for the obvious fact that the Cubs still play like a Triple-A team and still are embarrassing. So Cub.
Zambrano went off on the Cubs on Sunday...